the Way of the Turtle

A GOOD NIGHT FOR A RUN!
7.1 Mile Run on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Wednesday, March 7, 2011

I was pretty tired after what so far has been a long-ish week, but there was no way I was passing up a chance to go for a run when the weather today had been in the high 50's. And in the end I was glad I forced myself to hit the bike path, because despite dragging my backside most of the time tonight was a great night for a run - warm (53 degrees when I finished, according to a sign along Troy-Schenectady road) with a pleasant breeze and a glorious full moon to light everything up in shades of silver.

The path was clear from the Lions Park over to Lock 7. Initially I had thought to turn around at Lock 7 but there was enough of a clear track through the remaining snow that continuing west wasn't a problem. Once I reached the base of the old landfill, I took the path all the way to the top and soaked in the view of the river lit by the full moon while enjoying the breeze. I was even inspired to go through 2 very basic katas very slowly (running shoes, which are designed to grip the ground, are not the best footwear for doing turns in kata!)

The geese on the river were very noisy tonight - not sure if they were worried about the slow fat guy plodding down the bike path or something else, but there was a lot of honking going on. I also heard a few ducks and what I think were several killdeer. But what I enjoyed most was running along the bike path on a warm, quiet night, with occasional patches of snow crunching under my feet and silver light from the full moon filtering through the trees. I wish I'd had more energy so I could have stayed out for a few more miles!

JMH